Game apparatus.



C. JENTZ.

GAME APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED IIIAY25. 191s.

.Patnted May 6, 1919` @wm am INVENTOR ATTORNEYS.

N, En STATES, PATENT onirica,

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To all *whom z't may concern Be it known that, I, CARL JEN'rz, a citizen ofthe United States, residing at Cape Magdeline Three Rivers, Province of Quebec, Canada, in the county of Champlain, Province of Quebec, have invented .certain new and useful Improvements in Garne Apparatus; and I do hereby declare tie following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

'lhis invention is directed to the provision i `of a novel form of gamefapparatus which may be employed in playing a 'game which is highly entertainin which involves the elements of competition and chance, and

J which is highly instructive. in that it develor other ldie ops the powers of the players to perform arthmetical operations mentally 'with rapi ity.

Theapparatus includes a board ortable vided in any suitable. manner with a` pluralit of series of spaces, holes or the like suita ly designated with consecutive figures and markers of any suitable form adapted to be moved alongover the spaces designated by these gures in accordance with the vindications of the dicethrown by the players in turn. The 'dice includes one die which is provided with characters indicating various arithmetical o erations such as addition sub--` traction, multiplication and division. i

erably the die whose faces carry the arith# metical signs also has one face marked with a character such a cipher adapted to indicate that the player has the option of resorting to any one of the several arithmetical operations indicated by the other characters. The.4

sixth face of theindicator die may be blank to indicate that the player loses his throw.'V

Such a die may be employed in conjunction with two dice of the' usual type, the three dice being thrown together and the gures indicated by the two dice of the usual form being treated in accordance with the indication of the third die bearing the' arithmetical signs.

rl`he field or table may be a board withv several series of spaces or areas, those of each series being arranged in several rows and the spaces of each row being marked lconsecutively from l up to, sa 300. At

the beginning of each series o areas is a space constituting thestarting point and l -Bpeolcation ofLetters Patent. application mea my as, isis. semi no. nass?.

rm. of playing field which is pro href. f

Patented May 6, i919.

The invention 'may be embodied iny appa ratus differing considerably as to its structural characteristics. The form in which I prefer to emibody the invention is illustrated in the drawings annexed hereto, and I shall therefore' describe the apparatus with refer-v ence to these drawings, without intending,

v however, to limit the invention in any way to this specific form. l ,f 4

In vthe: drawings' F' re 1 is a face view Aof the table or board roken away Vin'part;

f Fig. 2 is a cross-section form of board;

of aan! alternative Fig. .3 is a perspective view of the dice of usna form employedin playing the game;

and, a

4 is a perspective view of the indicator ie.v

' Referrin to Fig. 1, the board hr table or playing fie d 8 is' preferably rectangular in crm and Vconsists of a multiplicity of rows of areas designated by fi res extendin in parallel lines across the ard. It 'wil be understood that a suitable field of cardboard may be employed tor that the rows of squares and the igures may be laid out upon thetop of a'table in any suitable manner, and also that the i'ield may have' a plain surface adaptedy to have suitable markers of dierby step on it, or

ent colors advanced ste by the figures may that the areas' designate vhave holes therein to receive pegs. 'This' latter construction is indicated in Fig. 2 wherein the `fieldv is shown as a board 5 which may constitute a table top, and which is provided with holes 6 adapted to receive` pins 7.

Referring now to Fig. 1 it will be noted that there are four series of rows of squares numbered consecutivel from 1 to 300, that there is a starting fiel at the beginning of each series, that there is a goal at the end of each series, that the four starting fields are locatedadjaoent to the four corners or ion the board, that the four goals are located adjacent tothe four corners of the iield, and that the igures of the four series are positioned so as to be` readable from the four sides of the board. Referring to the row of figures at the left it will be noted that these are numbered from 1 to 31, that the squares of the fifth row to the right are numbered from 32 to 65 inclusive, and that the squares of the fourth row farthes1 lto the right are numbered from66 to 99 inclusive, and so/on. Thesethree rows and all of the other rows of this series are preterably of the same color and a color di'erent from' those of theother rows. Similarly, the several rows constitutin each of the other three series are similarly colored. The eld is therefore made up of a plurality of rows of iigures forming four series of rows with the squares of each of the several series distinctively colored and numbered from l to 300. Crosswise of the table the gures arrange themselves in rows but these rows cross the rows of the several series.

Fig. 3 shows two dice of the ordinary form having their six faces designated from 1 to 6 inclusiver ln Fig. t the special indicator die employed in playingthe game, is shown. As appears from this figure this die has one of its faces blank, has a zero on another face and has the remaining four faces designated with the arithmetical W ith this apparatus two dice of the usual form and one indicator die of the type shown in Fig. 4: are thrown by the several players in turn. The number shown by the two ordinary dice are treated in accordance with the sign displayed by the indicator die, and the markers are moved upon the eld of the table in accordance with the result of this a'rithmetical operation. The zero on the indicator die may be made to give the player the option of selecting any one of the four arithmetical o erations to be employed by him. The blan face of the indicator die may indicatethat theplayer loses his throw.

Subject to the foregoing; general direcpla 'ng a y whiycih may tions, the apparatus mayjbe employed for ame under any suitable rules e agreed upon. Preferably the following general directions as to the rules of the game' should be observed: 'When the up, the sum plusindication on the indicator die turns of the numbers uppermost on the other two dice should be added and .the marker moved along its appropriate' Y"course anamount indicated by the sum.

Should the minus sign turn up, the marker should be moved backward an amount indicated by the sum, di'erence or product of v the numbers shown by the two dice of the usual form .as .may be agreed upon. Should the mu1t1p11cation sign turn up, the numbers on the other two dice should be multiplied together and the marker moved an amount indicated by the product. Should the division sign turn up the larger number of the other two dice is multiplied by itself and this product divided by the other number and the marker should be moved an amount indicated by the quotient. When the option Sign or zero turns up the player has the option of employing any one of the four arithmetical operations above referred to. This-is of special value in connection with a rule that a marker must enter its goal by the exact number required to reach the goal. Thus, when the playcrs marker is near the goal and he throws the option sign, he has a choice of several arithmetical operations, one of which may serve his purpose of reachin the goal..V lWhen the blank side of the in icator die turns up the player loses his throw.

Lines of spaces across the board are referred to as lie1d; if one player has his marker in a certain field and another player moves his marker to a position in that eld, the former player must remove his marker and start againfrorn the starting Held.

, An exception to this rule as to returning an opponents marker to the starting field may be made in certain instances; preferably an exception is made with respect to all numbers divisible by 7. W hen two players advance their markers to spaces in the same ield represented by a number which is divisible by 7, that would be what is known as a closed gate, and no other player may advance his marker past this ate. A restriction maybe imposed as to ow such a closed gate may be opened, as for instance, by providing that it may be opened only by a player throwing a number which is divisible by 3.

A further provision may be made that any player whose marker reaches a space indicated by a number which is the square of another number, is entitled to another throw.

A. game played with apparatus constructed as above described and in general in accordance with the rules above indicated, is interesting in that ample opportunity for competition is presented and in that the element of chance is adequately involved; in addition to this, however, is the fact that thegame is of great value in that it develops the powers of the players to perform arithmetical calculations mentally and quickly. It is particularly useful2 therefore, as a game for the young; for ch1ldren who are lquite young the rules may be considerably simplified from those above indicated, as for instance by utilizing only one of the four mathematical operations.

It will be understood that the construc- Ition which I haveherein illustrated and deist that the invention is not limited with lrespect to the structural features of the parts employed, as apparatus of various forms employing the principles of the invention may be provided. All such modification of the construction above indicated I consider as within the scope of my invention and I aim to cover them by the terms of the claims ap* pended hereto.

l claim:

l. Game apparatus comprising the combination of a plurality of series of spaces designated by consecutive numbers and a plurality of dice one of which has the signs of larithmetical operations displayed upon its faces.

2. -Graine apparatus comprising the combination of a game board provided with a plurality of parallel rows of spaces desighated by consecutive numbers, each of the said rows consisting of a plurality of sections and the several sections of each row being indicated by a distinctive color, and a plurality of dice, one of `which has the signs of arithmetical operations displayed upon its faces. v y 3. Game apparatus comprising the combination of a plurality of series ofspaces designated by consecutive numbers and a plurality of dice, one of which has the signs of the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication vand division on four of the` faces, has an option side upon a fifth face, and has the sixth face blank.

4. Game apparatus comprising the combination of a game board provided with a plurality of parallel rows of spaces designated by consecutive numbers, each of the said rows consisting of a pluralityof sections, and the several sections of each row being indicated by a distinctive color, and a plurality of dice, one of which has the signs ofthe operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division on four of the faces, has an option sign upon a fifth face, and has the siXth face blank.

5. Game apparatus comprising the combination of a gan'le board having a multiplicity of squares marked off thereon in rows extending both longitudinally and transversely, the several longitudinal rows being divided into groups, eachY of several series of rows consistingof one row from each group being distinctively colored and the s uares in each of the similarly'colo-red rows eing numbered consecutively and having a starting field at one end and a goal at the other and a plurality of dice one of which has the signs of arithmetical operations displayed upon its faces.

In testimony whereof l aiix my si ature.

CARL JETITZ. 

